Gyeonggi Philharmonic's New Year's Concert on January 10: Conducted by Kim Sunwook, Featuring Sunwoo Yekwon

Respighi, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky

The Gyeonggi Arts Center will hold a New Year's Concert to welcome the Year of the Fire Horse at 5:00 p.m. on January 10, 2026, at the Grand Theater of the Gyeonggi Arts Center.

Conductor and pianist Kim Sunwook will lead the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, with pianist Sunwoo Yekwon performing as a soloist.

The concert will open with "Three Chorale Preludes" by Bach, arranged by Italian composer Respighi. This piece reinterprets Bach's religious and solemn organ melodies through Respighi's signature brilliant and dramatic orchestration, maximizing both grandeur and beauty.

Conductor Kim Sunwook [Photo by Gyeonggi Arts Center]

Pianist Sunwoo Yekwon [Photo by Gyeonggi Arts Center]

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Next, Sunwoo Yekwon will perform Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, a masterpiece renowned for its lyrical and sentimental melodies, dazzling virtuosity, and grand scale. This work also marked a turning point for Rachmaninoff, helping him regain his confidence after suffering from depression due to harsh criticism of his Symphony No. 1. The concerto unfolds with the heavy, low chords and anguished theme of the first movement, followed by the beautiful and dreamy atmosphere of the second movement, and concludes with the dynamic and exhilarating finale of the third movement.

The second half of the concert will feature Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, one of his most frequently performed symphonies alongside Symphony No. 6 "Path?tique." The first and second movements express somewhat dark emotions, which then transition to a rhythmic waltz melody in the third movement, and finally culminate in the fourth movement with a theme full of hope and vitality. While the symphony follows the traditional narrative of moving from "darkness" to "triumph," it is characterized more by its rich emotional palette, free-spirited energy, dramatic intensity, folk-like innocence, and romantic lyricism than by strict form and structure.

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 is a signature repertoire of the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2015, under the baton of Artistic Director Sung Siyeon, the orchestra became the first Korean orchestra to perform at the Berlin Philharmonie, where their rendition of this piece received high praise.